1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a half-fitting prevention connector which reliably prevents half-fitting by way of the resiliency of a resilient member attached to a housing of at least one of a pair of male and female connectors which are fittable to each other, and which reliably effects fitting and locking with the mating connector.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-158530, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A related example of a half-fitting prevention connector now will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 10.
As shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, in a half-fitting prevention connector 51, half-fitting between a pair of male and female connectors 52 and 53 which are fittable to each other is prevented by the resiliency of a pair of compression coil springs 57 accommodated in spring accommodating portions 56 on both sides in an exclusive housing 55 provided integrally on a housing 54 of the male connector 52.
In addition, the male connector 52 has a lock arm 58 which has on a lower surface of its tip an engaging projection 59 for retaining the mating female connector 53 and which is flexibly supported in the housing 54. Further, a slider 62 serving as a sliding member is slidably held in the exclusive housing 55.
Further, displacement preventing projections 60 are provided on an upper surface of the lock arm 58 on the opposite side to the side where the engaging projection 59 is provided, and a lock peak 61 is provided on the upper surface of its root portion. In addition, the exclusive housing 55 essentially serves to allow the slider 62 to slide in its axial direction and hold it, and a large portion of it is formed as a slider accommodating portion 63 with its upper portion open. A pair of side spaces 64 and a pair of guide grooves 65 are provided on both sides of the lock arm 58 to allow the slider 62 to slide therein in a straddling manner.
The slider 62 has a slider body 66 which is adapted to slide while being guided along the guide grooves 65. A pair of spring receiving portions 67 are provided on both sides of a rear end of the slider body 66 to retain and compress the respective compression springs 57 in the direction toward the spring accommodating portions 56 along the guide grooves 65.
In addition, the slider body 66 has a U-shaped notch 68 for holding a displacement preventing portion 71 provided at its front end. Further, a slider arm 69 which is deflectable upwardly by using a rear portion of the slider body 66 as a root is formed in the slider body 66. A pair of abutment projections 70 are provided on the lower surface of a front end of the slider arm 69 so as to be able to slide in the side spaces 64.
The displacement preventing portion 71 whose lower surface is recessed is provided at the front end of the slider body 66 so as to prevent the displacement of the lock arm 58 when the displacement preventing projections 60 have abutted against the displacement preventing portion 71. Further, a pressing portion 72 which can be pressed in the rearward direction is provided on the upper surface of a rear end portion of the slider body 66. A slide slot 73 of a rectangular shape is provided in a central portion of the slider arm 69 in front of the pressing portion 72. The lock peak 61 is capable of moving back and forth in the slide slot 73.
It should be noted that a lower portion of the housing 54 is formed as a male connector housing 74 so as to be fitted with inner surfaces of a female connector housing 76.
Further, an inclined projection 77, which is retained by the engaging projection 59, and a pair of stopper projections 78, which abuts against the abutment projections 70 of the slider 62, are provided on an upper surface of a female housing 75.
In the half-fitting prevention connector having the above-described construction, as shown in FIG. 6, after the pair of compression springs 57 are first inserted in the spring accommodating portions 56 of the exclusive housing 55 of the male connector 52, if the slider 62 is inserted along the guide grooves 65, the lower portion of the front end of the pressing portion 72 rides over the lock peak 61 while deflecting the lock arm 58 downward.
Then, if the inserting force is canceled as shown in FIG. 7, the front end of the pressing portion 72 of the slider 62, which is being urged in the forward direction by the compression springs 57, abuts against the lock peak 61, so that the slider 62 is positioned in a state of being slidable inside the housing 54.
Next, after a pair of female terminals 41 each having a covered wire W connected to the respective rear portion are fitted in the male connector housing 74, and a pair of male terminals 42 each having a covered wire W connected thereto are fitted in the female connector housing 75, the male and female connectors 52 and 53 made to face each other and are pressed in the connector fitting direction, as shown in FIG. 8.
Consequently, the stopper projections 78 on the female housing 75 abut against the abutment projections 70 of the slider 62, and the slider 62 is pushed in toward the rear of the housing 54 while compressing the compression springs 57. Afterwards, as the engaging projection 59 rides over the inclined projection 77, the lock arm 58 is deflected upward, while the slider arm 69 is deflected upward by riding over the lock peak 61.
If the fitting forces of the male and female connectors 52 and 53 are canceled at this stage, the slider 62 is pushed back by the urging forces of the compression springs 57, so that the female connector 53 is pushed back by the abutment projections 70 and the stopper projections 78, thereby preventing the male and female connectors 52 and 53 from being left in a half-fitted state.
In addition, because the upper portion of the exclusive housing 55 is open, the half-fitted state of the connectors can be also visually confirmed since the pressing portion 72 is located at the rear end portion of the exclusive housing 55, as shown in FIG. 8.
If the fitting operation is further advanced, as shown in FIG. 9, the slider arm 69 is deflected further upward by the lock peak 61 and the abutment projections 70 are disengaged from the stopper projections 78, with the result that the slider 62 is pushed back forwardly by the urging forces of the compression springs 57, and the front end of the pressing portion 72 abuts against the lock peak 61 and stops.
At this time, since the engaging projection 59 is retained by the inclined projection 77, the deflection of the lock arm 58 also returns to its original state, and the displacement preventing portion 71 of the slider 62 which returned to its original state is fitted over the displacement preventing projections 60 of the lock arm 58. Consequently, the lock arm 58 becomes no longer deflectable, thereby assuming a completely fitted state of the connectors. Also, since the position of the pressing portion 72 comes to be located on the front side from the rear end, the completely fitted state of the connectors can be confirmed visually.
Next, to cancel the fitting between the male and female connectors 52 and 53, as shown in FIG. 10, an operator pulls the pressing portion 72 in the rearward direction while compressing the compression springs 57 while holding the housing 75. Consequently, the slider 62 retracts to allow the displacement preventing projections 60 to be canceled from the state of being locked by the displacement preventing portion 71, and since the abutment projections 70 ride over the stopper projections 78, the slider 69 begins to be deflected upward.
If the pressing portion 72 is further pulled, at the same time as the tip portion of the slider arm 69 rides over the lock peak 61, the engaging projection 59 becomes unlocked from the inclined projection 77, so that the fitting between the male and female connectors 52 and 53 can be canceled.
However, with the above-described, half-fitting prevention connector 51, there has been a possibility that since the slider 62 is required, the number of component parts increases, and the number of assembling steps increases, leading to higher cost.
In addition, since when the pressing portion 72 is pulled backward during releasing operation of the connectors, the pressing portion 72 must be pulled while compressing the compression springs, there has been a possibility that the operating efficiency during the releasing operation is poor.
Furthermore, since the lock arm 58 and the slider arm 69 need to be deflected greatly during the fitting and releasing operation of the connectors 52 and 53, the durability of the connector must be considered.